David Ireland

David Ireland (born 1976) is a Northern Irish-born playwright and actor, known for his award-winning plays Cyprus Avenue and Ulster American. Early life and career Ireland was born in Sandy Row, Belfast, but grew up in Ballybeen, Dundonald, County Down, where he attended Brooklands Primary School. He then attended the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, before receiving training at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. In 2009, Ireland's What The Animals Say was produced by Òran Mór in Glasgow. In 2010, Everything Between Us, first produced by Solas Nua and Tinderbox Theatre Company, was performed in Belfast, Scotland and Washington, D.C. It won the Stewart Parker Trust BBC Radio Drama Award, and the Meyer-Whitworth Award for Best New Play. In 2016, Ireland's Cyprus Avenue premiered at the Royal Court Theatre. It was awarded the 2017 Irish Times Theatre Award for Best New Play, and the 2017 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Drama. The play then transferred to The Public Theater, New York City, the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, and the Metropolitan Arts Centre, Belfast. It returned to the Royal Court in February 2019 for a four-week run, and had its Australian debut in May 2019 at Sydney's Old Fitzroy Theatre. The Abbey Theatre performance with Stephen Rea was ranked by The Guardian writers as the 27th best theatre show since 2000.